So, your boss has secretly given you a night with a prostitute (Arquette) for your birthday. She falls in love, moves in and gets marries you. You then kill her pimp (Oldman) and accidentally steal a suitcase of cocaine from him. This everyday scenario was just so happens to Clarence (Slater) and Alabama (Arquette) in True Romance from Ridley Scott’s little brother before these are fairly ordinary occurrences lead to drug deals with Hollywood Directors (Rubinek) and the attentions of psychotic gangsters (Walken and co) as they escape to LA.
Every actor with an ounce of cool working today although that wasn’t actually the case when the film came out in 1993 play their part down-to-a-tee in True Romance. A long list of Hollywood’s finest were not in egotistical competition with each other but rather they each fit together like a beautiful twenty-piece jigsaw of a boat. Kudos has to go to Gary Oldman who makes the biggest transformation, Brad Pitt and Dennis Hopper showing their own respective brands of effortless style, and Patricia Arquette creating a woman that you would kill, steal and drug deal for. The main plaudits must be reserved for Tony Scott for juggling them so perfectly and getting the best out of each one.
This stylish and impressive romantic-thriller is bursting with eye-catching scenes, razor-sharp dialogue and colourful characters. The influence of 1973’s classic movie Badlands especially in its iconic soundtrack is plain to see however True Romance has itself inspired a lot of movies since and stands out as one of the best films of the Nineties even though it lurks in the shadow of the other the better-known films penned by Tarantino, like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.